Yellow Pages Booster Seat Tutorial

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I feel like the yellow pages are such a waste of paper in this digital age! Either they collect dust for the next renters to deal with, or they get dumped the recycling bin. Hardly fair for something straight off the press, don’t you think? Last week we got our beloved yellow pages delivered on our doorstep. Chris brought it in & suggested that we recover it & use it as a booster seat for Penelope. She’s stopped eating in her highchair & is much too short to successfully transport food from her plate to her mouth. Of course I needed to cover this. Why hadn’t the though occurred to me before?

Sometimes I totally ride on the creative coattails of others. Like my husband.

Those are tennis balls on the legs of the chair. AND yes, they’re awesome.

I did it. It didn’t take long to figure out, although I did end up unpicking a few seams along the way. Besides stopping & photographing the steps, this project took a half an hour. I used a thick canvas for our cover because a) it was on hand & b) it matched our chairs. I think oilcloth would be perfect for this project.

Yellow Pages Booster Seat Tutorial

Supplies:

  • pencil
  • washable marker
  • measuring tape
  • pins
  • sewing machine
  • thread
  • fabric (1/4 yd)
  • ribbon (1 yd)
  • yellow pages

Measure your yellow pages. Mine were 20 inches x 24 3/4 inches. Make sure to measure accurately, but not too tight, otherwise you might be cursing me later.

Cut your fabric. From the measurements I took I used a simple formula to calculate my measurements:

X ÷ 2 + 1 = WIDTH         Y ÷ 2 + 1 = HEIGHT

Cut two squares using the above formula & cut a third rectangle at: HEIGHT x 4 inches.

Snag one of your large rectangular pieces & the small one & fold the long edge over twice (for a clean edge on both sides) iron and hem. Set aside.

Cut ribbon in half & fold each half in half. Grab the remaining large rectangle (the one without the hem) & pin the ribbon 3 inches from each corner along the long side of the fabric with the ribbon fold flush to the edge of the rectangle. Pin ribbon in place.

Place large, hemmed rectangle right-side down on top of your ribbon. Match the long unhemmed side to the side where ribbons are secured. You want to have the ribbons opposite of the envelope opening.

Place the smaller rectangle right-side down on top of the two fabric pieces. Line up the unhemmed side to the bottom of the first rectangle. Pin all pieces in place. Sew along all four sides with a 1/2 inch seam allowance.

While the casing is still inside out, slip your yellow pages into the cover (binding side first) & pinch off corners (the two corners that are opposite of the envelope opening. Pinch the excess fabric & mark a line where the edge of the yellow pages are.

Remove yellow pages from casing & sew along those two perpendicular lines. This will create two boxed corners.

Flip casing right side out & insert yellow pages binding side first. When enclosing the envelope, bend the pages of your book in order to get the envelope over the book. Push pages back into place.

Tie the book to a chair & use as a booster seat! Enjoy!

For your convenience, click the button above to download the printable version of the tutorial. Cheers!

This tutorial is free for personal use and should not be distributed/republished without my consent. Altering the file NOT ALLOWED. If you would like to use this tutorial for commercial purposes, please email me. Thanks!

Oh, and by the way. . . I just finally updated the tutorials page!! Check it out to see if you’ve missed anything.

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    1. Emily says:

      Great idea! My husband likes to keep a phonebook in the car, in case we get stranded and need to start a fire but we only need so many in the car. ha.

    2. Rachael says:

      Brilliant! I have always thought there must me some great use for those phone books and here it is! :)

    3. Crystal says:

      This is great! I have four useless (and the same copy of) yellow pages books AND a five year old! :D

      (Re-posting a link to this blog post on my Facebook…)

    4. Katie Truelove says:

      I just love your resourceful ways! Great idea for making an ‘everyday’ item cute:)!

    5. Erin says:

      This is a great idea, I love the idea of using I might have thrown out to create something pretty and useful. I’m a newer follower of your blog. I noticed you also have a daughter named Penelope. I just had to comment and show you a picture because I think our Penelope’s could be friends. http://tinyurl.com/6e4kvja :) Big blue eyes and all. :)

    6. Erin says:

      using something***

    7. Heidi says:

      How clever are you!! This makes me realize, again, what a small town I live in. Our Yellow Pages is about 1/3 that size. haha!

    8. Kylie says:

      This is a great idea, but I was most excited about your Charley Harper calendar pages being displayed. I have that calendar up, and it makes me really happy every time I see those flamingos. :)

    9. I just wanted to chime in and say – Yes, those tennis balls are fricken awesome!

    10. Nicia says:

      Hey…could you make some sort of zipper in the back, in case your internet/phone what have you we’re dead and you were in a serious bind and needed to get a number the old fashioned way? Love this idea!

    11. Such a clever idea! Love that orange print, too.

    12. Awesome idea! I’m packing this away for future use when I have some young’ns.

    13. Kinzie Sue says:

      Oh, I really hope that I kept the latest phonebook because this is a brilliant idea! Since we’re snowed in, it sounds like the perfect afternoon project.

    14. Mandi C says:

      What a great idea! Go team Esplin. Those Charlie Harper prints are fantastic too!

    15. Linda says:

      Wonderful idea! Why I didn’t I think of that when I had littles at home. Do you find that it is too hard on her little legs? A little batting might make it a little easier on them if it does. Kudos to your husband for the recycling and Penelope-boosting inspiration. 8-)

    16. Alma says:

      Love this idea because I also HATE getting the stupid yellow pages and feeling the guilt of throwing them straight into recycling!

    17. marissa says:

      You are amazing! You have to tell me about the tennis balls, though.

    18. This is a running joke in my family – my father in law has used phone books and his belt to boost generations of children.

    19. Rachel says:

      This is hilariously genius. My gramma has a bunch of Yellow Pages in her car- just in case. =) Thanks so much for the how-to, I’ll be spreading the word.

    20. via_ostiense says:

      Oh, this reuse of the phone book is too cute, and it’s funny — what a creative way to find a use for the phone book!

    21. Stella Pearl says:

      I love this idea! I always sat on yellow pages as a child, but they definitely weren’t this SAFE or CUTE!

    22. […] over to Melissa Esplin’s incredibly smart and adorable tutorial to make your own chic booster seat from that silly old phonebook they keep leaving on your doorstep […]

    23. […] blogged about some other ways to use phone books and here’s one more quick idea from I Still Love You.  Check them out for other easy upcycling projects. Categories: Children Notice: This work is […]

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